Just read this super-cool post on super-cool blog BibliOdyssey about the Antikamnia Chemical Company and their calendar images from the turn of the last century. There are a ton more images like the one above (most of them are less racist), all by pharmacist/printer/artist Louis Crucius.
Some background from BibliOdyssey:
While he was studying he worked in a pharmacy and made humorous sketches that were placed in the window of the store. A collection of these drawings was published in 1893 (‘Funny Bones’). He lectured in histology and anatomy and eventually came to be a Professor of Anatomy but died in 1898 from kidney tumours.
Although he gave most of his drawings away, Crucius sold a number of them to the Antikamnia (‘opposed to pain’) Chemical Company which had been established in St Louis in 1890. They produced antikamnia medicines containing the coal tar derivative, acetanilid, an anti-fever drug with pain relieving properties somewhat related to paracetamol, but which would be later shown to be a toxic compound not to mention addictive. Antikamnia was mixed with substances like codeine and quinine to enhance the pain relieving effects.
30 of the Crucius ‘dance of death’-inspired drawings were used to make 5 years worth of Antikamnia Chemical Company calendars - between 1897 and 1901. They had a fairly aggressive marketing campaign in which the calendars (aimed at the medical fraternity) as well as postcards and sample packs were distributed to doctors in the United States and overseas.My great-great-grandfather was a pharmacist in Hardwick, Vermont, around this time. I wonder if he was familiar with these calendars.
Image: The Antikamnia Company 1901 (An Old Negro Melody) by peacay on Flickr.
Trephination:
Trepanning, also known as trephination, trephining or making a burr hole, is a surgical intervention in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the human skull, exposing the dura mater in order to treat health problems related to intracranial diseases. It may also refer to any “burr” hole created through other body surfaces, including nail beds. It is often used to relieve pressure beneath a surface. A trephine is an instrument used for cutting out a round piece of skull bone.
Loki
(European mythology)
The ‘mischief maker’ of the Germanic gods. Fickle and false, clever and cunning,
the trickster god Loki was ‘the father of lies’. Also he is well known as a shapeshifter
in order to assist his deciet. Probably a personification of the forest fire, one of the most destructive agencies known to ancient peoples, ‘the sly god’ ultimately would hasten ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. Mostly popular in Norwegian folklore.
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Trickster god: An all-powerful deity created and guides the universe ultimately towards an evil purpose, but have chosen to maliciously presented himself as benevolent (interest in overall well-being and good doing) only to play a trick on created beings.
ecidivism:
n. the habit of closing a browser tab to go do something else, only to absentmindedly return to the website you just left, which is your brain’s way of stress-testing your attention span under a synthetic and highly experimental blend of ones and zeroes, mostly zeroes.
Occupants: Hairy
1940 Gateshead, Britain
Mr. Robert Hall saw a
little under twenty aliens of varying shapes and sizes gathered around a small craft. Most of the creatures were “horrible looking” short grey type aliens, but there was also another creature present who Robert describes as looking like Bigfoot. Another creature had a strange sort of diving helmet on, similar to deep sea divers of the day.
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1986-1990 U.S.A
ALF (for Alien Life Form) is an American television sitcom that originally ran on NBC from 1986 to 1990 and was created by Paul Fusco. ALF’s body is covered with a ginger/rust-colored fur (he once described his color as burnt sienna). This show was based upon this as well as the other hundreds of reports of people witnessing these “hairy” alien beings first hand.
Only in Indonesia (especially Toraja), a corpse is usually being carried up to the grave, but in Toraja, the corpse is woken up letting it tol walk to its grave (is rarely performed anymore)
The corpse is woken up using black magic. This is done because in Toraja the graves/cemetries is placed above limestones mountains.
The corpse walks by itself, and its guided by an expert in black magic behind it. But there is one prohibition, the corpse shouldn’t be appointed, once pointed, the corpse falls down and isn’t able to walk again.WHOA
